Press Release

Aqua Comms, a leading provider of global subsea connectivity services, today announced a long-term lease agreement for Trans-Atlantic subsea spectrum with Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) for 25% of a fibre pair between New York, Dublin and London. This agreement marks the first Trans-Atlantic spectrum acquisition by ESnet, the high-performance network built to support scientific research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science and managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

ESnet serves as the DOE research community’s “data circulatory system,” providing services to tens of thousands of scientific researchers throughout the entire national laboratory system, its supercomputing facilities, and its major scientific instruments, as well as peering with more than 270 research and commercial networks worldwide. Secured for 15 years, this quarter-fibre-pair will provide a dedicated 5 Tbps data pipe that will be a foundational element of ESnet’s long-term trans-Atlantic strategy to accommodate rapid increases in data traffic from DOE science collaborations and facilities, including ramping up for the high luminosity upgrade of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

“Scientific research has entered the exascale era, and researchers need to be able to rapidly, seamlessly, and reliably move vast quantities of data from instruments to high-performance computing facilities to their human collaborators all over the world — and back again,” said ESnet Executive Director Inder Monga. “ESnet is committed to continuing to build a robust, redundant network ready to serve the Department of Energy’s research ecosystem now and for the long-term future.”

Jim Fagan, CEO at Aqua Comms, said, “Subsea Spectrum offers the scalability and control of dark fibre at a fraction of the cost allowing customers to plan for their long-term network needs. By working with Aqua Comms, ESNet can be confident in our expertise and leading global subsea engineering services as we continue to demonstrate that we are at the forefront of the technology supporting the needs of our customers with high-bandwidth, efficient network services.”

The Aqua Comms network is leveraging Ciena’s (NYSE: CIEN) GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics and Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) advanced software capabilities, to support customers’ ever-growing connectivity and bandwidth needs. Additionally, Ciena Services is providing submarine-specific automation for installation, spectrum activation, and testing for time savings and improved optimization, as well as SLTE technical support to ensure optimal network reliability.

“When 400G wavelengths are not sufficient for growing demands, operators are turning to subsea spectrum to fulfill their scalable, continent-to-continent requirements,” commented Thomas Soerensen, Vice President, Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena.“With Ciena’s best-in-class GeoMesh Extreme solution, Aqua Comms’ network has the high bandwidth, intelligence, and cost efficiency to meet the unique connectivity needs of big science.”

Want to keep up with all the latest news from the submarine cable community? Join the discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s largest subsea communications event

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News

The five new contracts will help subsidise the rollout of full fibre broadband infrastructure to ovr 202,000 rural premises

Today, the UK’s largest altnet CityFibre has been awarded five new contracts related to the UK’s £5 billion broadband subsidy programme, Project Gigabit.

The contracts, worth a total of £394 million, will provide subsidies for full fibre rollout to 202,000 rural premises in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Milton Keynes.

CityFibre says the funding will also help the company to expand and densify its existing deployments in these areas, boosting its rollout to almost 450,000 additional premises across the awarded regions.

The first of these newly targeted premises will reportedly be connected in 2025.

“We’re thrilled to be a key delivery partner for the government on this critical infrastructure project, transforming the digital capabilities of rural homes and businesses across the country. But that’s just the start. We’re continuing to expand our commercial rollout alongside Project Gigabit, extending infrastructure choice, multi-gigabit speeds, and unparalleled reliability to hundreds of thousands of additional premises in these regions,” said Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer at CityFibre.

These five new contracts are in addition to the four CityFibre has already won, bringing the company’s total Project Gigabit funding to £782 million.

Project Gigabit currently aims to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to at last 85% of UK premises by 2025 and the whole of the UK (roughly 99%) by 2030.

CityFibre’s network currently covers roughly 3.5 million premises across the UK, with the company aiming to cover 8 million with full fibre by the end of 2025.

“We’re wasting no time in our mission to bring lightning-fast broadband to rural areas – with a billion pounds in contracts already signed with broadband companies to get our next-generation network up and running,” added Data and Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez. “Project Gigabit is already driving growth, creating jobs and putting an end to snail’s pace internet speeds, and we will continue to work rapidly to ensure people feel the benefits of our rollout to even more places across the UK as quickly as possible.”

Want to keep up with all the latest developments in the UK telecoms market? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected North conference live in Manchester

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Contributed Article

2024 is set to see a number of highly anticipated submarine cable systems go live this year, from unlocking the African connectivity market with 2Africa to diversifying communications between APAC and Europe

As we enter 2024, the global requirements for fast, secure connectivity continue to accelerate. The developing nations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are rapidly growing more digital, while the world’s more developed economies continue to grow more data hungry because of emerging technologies like AI. Indeed, from the widespread adoption of 5G to the growing adoption of broadband worldwide, the need for high-quality submarine cable infrastructure linking these international regions has never been higher.

In response to this booming demand, China Mobile International Limited (CMI) is investing heavily in related submarine cable infrastructure. Part of four new cable systems – 2Africa, IAX, IEX, and PEACE – are all planned to go live in 2024. Taken together with their existing cable projects, these new systems will create an interconnected backbone for international data traffic, bolstering these transport routes between Asia and the rest of the world for years to come.

Unlocking a continent: The 2Africa cable

A study from RTI estimated that 2Africa’s economic impact in Africa will be a boost of $26.2 billion to $36.9 billion within two to three years of the system’s activation. This is equivalent to around 0.5% of Africa’s GDP.

Circumnavigating the entire African continent and linking it to Europe and Asia, 2Africa is set to be the largest submarine cable system ever deployed, spanning over 45,000km. With 46 planned cable landing stations, the 2Africa system will directly serve 33 countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe with high quality and highly reliable connectivity.

Equipped with 16 fibre  pairs and a capacity of 180Tbps, the cable is exceptionally well equipped to deal with the connectivity needs of the entire African continent.

2Africa is owned by a consortium comprising major players from across all three continents: Bayobab, Center3, CMI, Meta, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC.

The impact that 2Africa is expected to have on the African continent cannot be understated. The continent is growing increasingly digitalised, with data usage – especially mobile data usage – booming. In the 2023 Mobility Report, Ericsson found that Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest growing region in the world when it comes to total mobile data traffic, with a CAGR of 33% anticipated between 2023 and 2029. As such, access to high quality submarine cable infrastructure will soon become imperative for these nations to make the most of emerging technologies and transform the local economy. This is especially true for nations like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is currently served by just a single existing submarine cable – the West Africa Cable System (WACS), which has been in operation for over 12 years.

For comparison, WACS, even after being upgraded in 2015 and 2019, only has a total capacity of 14.5Tbps over its four fibre pairs. 2Africa, on the other hand, has a capacity of 180Tbps over its 16 fibre pairs.

The cable is expected to be operational in 2024, with the PEARLS branch – which extends the system to Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia – planned for service in 2025. The addition of PEARLS will not only greatly enhance the 2Africa cable’s connectivity to the Gulf region, but offer further connections to the entire APAC region through CMI’s self-invested cables.

Diversify and expand: The PEACE cable

In contrast to the near ubiquitous nature of the 2Africa cable, the PEACE cable system is far more targeted.

Spanning roughly 15,000km, this route connects Marseille, France, to Karachi, Pakistan, with an additional branch extending to Mombasa, Kenya, and Victoria, Seychelles.

The PEACE system operates on an open-cable model and is committed to providing neutral, flexible and non-differentiated interconnection services for various operators, OTTs and enterprises across the regions. The system is designed for a maximum capacity of 192Tbps and offers substantially reduced network latency by adopting the shortest direct route between Asia, Africa, and Europe. It also supports customised  cooperative solutions and provides more flexible business models to help customers achieve autonomous and customisable  network-building conditions.

The cable was activated at the end of 2022 and, since then, plans to expand the cable yet further to Singapore have been announced for 2024. This will expand the cable’s role considerably, making it a major Asia-Europe interconnection – indeed, making it the fastest express route between Southeast Asia and East Africa.

Singapore is already a major data hub for CMI, which has invested in over 10 cables there connecting Inner Asia to Europe. Using these various cable resources, CMI can provide connectivity from Europe to Africa via Djibouti to Asia via numerous routes.

It is worth noting that this is just a small part of PEACE’s overall expansion plans, which include growing the system to 25,000km in length and landing in over 20 countries.

PEACE is being co-created by a consortium of 12 industry partners, including CMI, China Unicom, China Telecom, Ooredoo, Orange, and Telecom Egypt.

A wealth of opportunities: The IAX & IEX system

Finally, this year will see the further development of a pair of interrelated systems of great interest to the global submarine cable community: the India Asia Xpress (IAX) cable, expected to be ready for service later this year, and the India Europe Xpress (IEX) system, which will be ready next year.

IAX will stretch from Mumbai, India, to the Maldives, and onwards to Singapore, with additional branches extending to Thailand and Sri Lanka. IEX, meanwhile, will travel westwards from Mumbai, through the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, before landing at its final destination in Savona, Italy.

Combined, these two systems will provide more than 200Tbps of capacity over more than 16,000km, offering additional diversity.

As the world’s fastest growing digital economy and occupying a crucial junction for international data traffic, linking Southeast Asia to Europe, India is a major data hub in its own right. Both APAC and Europe are already highly developed when it comes to submarine cable infrastructure, but the sheer scale of the data growth expected over the coming decade is making the further development of these state-of-the-art cables highly attractive.

IAX and IEX will play a major role in meeting that need, offering customers alternatives on some of the most popular data routes in the world.

A new data backbone for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East

For CMI, these new resources will operate synergistically with their existing carrier infrastructure, like the Southeast Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 5 (SeMeWe-5) and Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) cables.  When combined, these cable routes will serve to enrich regional network connectivity along the Middle Eastern and African coastlines and provide advantageous regional transmission networks for local carriers.

Naturally, the advent of new, more advanced data transport systems will require the evolution of the relevant interconnectivity hubs themselves. In Marseille, for example – a city where all three of the above systems converge in Europe – CMI is making significant investments to offer a wide range of IP services and strengthen the synergy between its existing and new cable systems.

Out with the old, in with the new

Of course, the development of these four cables is only the beginning of our submarine cable journey in 2024.

Cables built around the turn of the century that were once state-of-the-art are now beginning to reach the end of their lifespan, often requiring major investments to remain operational. While advances in technology – particularly Submarine Line Terminal Equipment – are allowing these cables to last longer than ever before, even beyond the quarter-century milestone, the need for new cables will only increase as we approach 2030.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning the incredible importance that cable route diversity continues to have for both public and private sector customers around the world. Not only does having multiple routes to choose from drive competition and therefore more competitive pricing, but it also allows greater flexibility and control of where and how your data is transported. With network security playing an increasingly important role in operators’ decision making, new routes will undoubtedly be developed to cater for these more diverse customer needs. These are all additional motivating factors for CMI’s broader investment in the Asia–Europe and Asia–Africa data transport markets.

Therefore, as older cables approach the end of their lifespan, enterprises demand even higher standards of latency and capacity, and governments move to prioritise network resilience globally, it can be anticipated that numerous cable projects will be announced in the coming years. When combined with initiatives such as 2Africa, PEACE, and IEX/IAX, these cables will establish a network that significantly enhances the interconnected connectivity between Africa, Asia, and Europe.

How is the international submarine cable ecosystem evolving in 2024? Join the submarine networks community in discussion at this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA conference

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London, UK – 1st February 2024 – Acronis, a leading provider of cyber protection, today announced it has become a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), an ecosystem of independent software vendors (ISV) and managed security service providers (MSSP). MISA members have integrated their solutions with Microsoft security technology to build a better defence against a world of increasing cybersecurity threats.

 

Acronis advocates for natively integrated applications and services commonly used by service providers to boost productivity and efficiency. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is an advanced single, integrated solution that reduces complexity and provides unmatched integrated protection from ever-evolving cyber threats. It also encompasses the Acronis Ecosystem of more than 200 integrations with third-party vendors.

 

“Over 20,000 MSPs use Acronis to protect and manage their customers’ endpoints, applications, and data,” said Gaidar Magdanurov, President at Acronis. “Most of them are Microsoft CSP Direct or Indirect Resellers who seek synergies between Microsoft, Acronis, and other vendors to meet customer security and data resiliency requirements. With today’s announcement of Acronis’ Cyber Cloud Protect integrated with Microsoft Intune, MSPs can now manage customer endpoints with Microsoft Intune and deploy Acronis managed security and backup services quickly and easily to their customers, all from a single agent and interface.”

 

The integration between Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud and Microsoft Intune allows partners to deploy Acronis agents and apply protection plans based on Microsoft Entra ID groups through Microsoft Intune, which adheres to Microsoft best practices. Acronis partners can now seamlessly explore integration options directly through the MISA partner catalog, aiming to provide MSPs with a more accessible experience for efficiently enabling an integrated ecosystem.

 

Acronis’ collaboration with MISA demonstrates the quality of its integration with Microsoft Intune, showcasing a long-term commitment to the Microsoft relationship. MISA enables close collaboration between members with the shared goal of improving customer security. Each new member brings valuable expertise, making the association more effective as it expands. Joining this ecosystem reinforces Acronis’ dedication to cybersecurity.

 

“The Microsoft Intelligent Security Association has grown into a vibrant ecosystem comprised of the most reliable and trusted security software vendors across the globe,” said Maria Thomson, Director, Microsoft Intelligent Security Association. “Our members, like Acronis, share Microsoft’s commitment to collaboration within the cybersecurity community to improve our customers’ ability to predict, detect, and respond to security threats faster.”

 

Partners who are interested in learning more, visit the MISA Partner Catalog: Microsoft Intelligent Security Association.

 

About Acronis

Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity to deliver integrated, automated cyber protection that solves the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of the modern digital world. With flexible deployment models that fit the demands of service providers and IT professionals, Acronis provides superior cyber protection for data, applications, and systems with innovative next-generation antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection management solutions powered by AI. With advanced anti-malware powered by cutting-edge machine intelligence and blockchain-based data authentication technologies, Acronis protects any environment – from cloud to hybrid to on-premises – at a low and predictable cost.

 

Acronis is a Swiss company, founded in Singapore. Celebrating two decades of innovation, Acronis has 1,800+ employees in 45 locations. Acronis Cyber Protect solution is available in 26 languages in over 150 countries and is used by 20,000+ service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.

 

17 major open-standard organizations active in digital identity have launched a new initiative – the Sustainable and Interoperable Digital Identity (SIDI) Hub – to define what is needed to achieve cross-border interoperability for digital identity.

Dozens of digital identity schemes have now been launched or are underway around the world at both national and regional levels, and across the public and private sectors. Yet to date, there is no known scheme considered truly interoperable across borders.   

The SIDI Hub

In recognition of the usability gaps inherent in the current fragmented approach, the SIDI Hub was conceived as a community to accelerate the path to cross-border interoperability.

A spokesperson for the SIDI Hub said: “Interoperability is crucial for a fair and inclusive digital society. In the same way payments can be made across borders, we need mechanisms in place to assure people that they’ll be able to prove their identity online and offline, whenever needed.”

Achieving cross-border interoperability

To promote a common understanding of what cross-border interoperability means and define a shared approach and roadmap for success, the SIDI Hub held its first summit at TRUSTECH 2023.

120+ digital identity experts from governments representing 22 countries, multilaterals, standard organizations, and non-profits attended, including representatives from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UN agencies and the World Bank.

Over three quarters of participants agreed that the establishment of minimum requirements for interoperability was the highest priority on the road to achieving cross-border interoperability. This was closely followed by the definition of global metrics to measure “success” (77%), a shared commitment to championing cross-border use cases (71%), the mapping of trust frameworks across jurisdictions (69%), and the ability to identify which organizations are contributing specific capabilities to digital identity infrastructure (65%).

SIDI Hub’s spokesperson added: “The summit demonstrated the willingness of all sectors and stakeholders to act now and create an interoperable digital future for everyone. It also highlighted how nuanced perception of digital identity can be. Priorities, challenges, opportunities and requirements can differ greatly between Global North and Global South countries. This means to effectively make progress on global interoperability, we need to proactively and intentionally recognize the local context and concerns in each country, including social, cultural, regulatory and legal norms.”

The SIDI Hub roadmap for 2024

Over 90% of participants agreed that the work started at the SIDI Hub summit must continue in 2024.

In response, the SIDI Hub has defined its workstreams and roadmap: 

Identifying champion use cases for cross-border interoperability that serve as baseline for all workstreams
Defining minimum interoperability requirements for priority use cases
Mapping trust frameworks across jurisdictions
Defining metrics of success  

The group is organizing a series of virtual and in-person meetings this year to progress the roadmap, and invites all organizations involved in the development, adoption and implementation of digital identity solutions to add their voice to this important work.

Join the community on LinkedIn, visit the website and sign up for the SIDI Hub newsletter to learn more and stay up to date on the latest news and events. 

About the SIDI Hub

The SIDI Hub was created and is led by: Accountable Digital Identity Association (ADIA), Better Identity Coalition, Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance, GlobalPlatform, Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA), IDPro, Kantara, OASIS, Open Identity Exchange (OIX), OpenID Foundation, Secure Identity Alliance (SIA)/ OSIA, Trust Over IP (ToIP) Foundation, Women In Identity, and World Privacy Forum.

It brings together:

Governments and multilateral organizations to help translate domestic policy and standards requirements.
Non-profits with a robust track record of close–government collaboration and ability to move at the pace required as requirements mature.
Communities with diverse requirements and technical approaches to build a shared unopinionated view of the identity stack.

 

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Newsbridge’s Cloud Media Hub and Mobile App Reduces Content Production Times and Enables Easy Distribution to Players and Social Media Channels

PARIS — Feb. 1, 2024 — Leading AI and cloud media company Newsbridge announced today that professional German football club 1. FC Köln has deployed the company’s Cloud Media Hub and Mobile App powered by MXT-1 AI indexing technology to improve its content workflows. Newsbridge’s state-of-the-art solutions enable the three-time Bundesliga champions to ingest and auto-index the club’s vast library of digital assets, efficiently create content, and quickly distribute media to partners, players, and fans via social platforms. Local system integrator Qvest ensured a smooth deployment and integration with 1. FC Köln’s existing media ecosystem.

“Newsbridge fulfills our rigorous requirements for in-house video production, centralizing our archived content and enabling fast media search and distribution of player and match highlights at scale,” said Michael Rudolph, head of media and communication, at 1. FC Köln. “The fact that we can ingest and distribute our content to external parties, and on multiple platforms, is an absolute game changer. Being in the cloud, Newsbridge’s Media Hub provides our team with high flexibility — whether they’re at the stadium working from the sideline or creating content remotely.”

1. FC Köln has adopted Newsbridge’s Cloud Media Hub with the capacity for 6,000 hours of video content and three million photos. Powered by MXT-1 multimodal and generative AI, the Cloud Media Hub enables FC Köln to rapidly detect content with high editorial value. All of 1. FC Köln’s media assets are fully searchable thanks to advanced facial recognition, object and logo detection, speech-to-text transcription, and optical character recognition technology. Through Newsbridge’s Mobile App, players and partner agencies can directly access and share match and training photos across social media channels.

An automatic asset placeholder workflow was implemented via API to automatically log match information such as home team, away team, season, location and stadium, when content is pushed to the asset placeholders. Additionally, the Newsbridge Cloud Media Hub is being integrated with Buffer, JW Player, and Stats Perform advanced analytics, synchronizing sports data and enriching 1. FC Köln’s live and archived media assets. The result of these integrations is faster, more efficient media workflows.

“Newsbridge’s Cloud Media Hub with its state-of-the-art indexing, semantic search engine and sports data integrations enable football clubs to find pivotal moments in their large media collections in less than two seconds,” said Philippe Petitpont, co-founder and CEO at Newsbridge. “As one of the early adopters of our MXT-1 AI indexing technology, FC Köln is on the bleeding edge of providing premium experiences to sponsors and fans.”

1. FC Köln is Newsbridge’s second German Bundesliga customer. Newsbridge’s other sports clients include Bayer Leverkusen, the Icelandic Football Association (KSÍ), French Federation of Football (FFF), the French Basketball Federation (FFBB), and the French Rugby League (LNR).

More information about Newsbridge’s solutions can be found at www.newsbridge.io.

# # #

About Newsbridge (www.newsbridge.io)
Newsbridge is the leading AI company solving the video searchability problem. Powered by MXT-1 multimodal and generative AI indexing technology, Newsbridge provides unprecedented access to audiovisual content by generating natural language descriptions of scenes including the automatic detection of faces, objects, logos, landmarks, written texts, audio transcripts, and semantic context.

Whether it be for managing and accessing live recordings, clipping highlights, future friendly archiving, content retrieval or content showcasing and monetization — Newsbridge’s solutions enable smart and efficient media asset management.

Today our platform is used worldwide by sports rights holders, TV channels, press agencies, production houses, journalists, editors, and archivists, to boost their production workflow and media ROI.

All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

Link to Word Doc: www.202comms.com/Newsbridge/240201-Newsbridge-FC_Köln.docx

Photo Link 1: www.202comms.com/Newsbridge/FC_Cologne_Newsbridge_Media_Hub.png
Photo Caption: German Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln has deployed Newsbridge’s Cloud Media Hub and Mobile App, powered by the company’s MXT-1 AI indexing technology, to improve its content workflows.

Photo Link 2: www.202comms.com/Newsbridge/Newsbridge-MXT1-Logo.png
Photo Caption: Newsbridge MXT-1 logo

Viewpoint Article

by Sharon McDermott, founder and managing director at Trenches Law

When it comes to bringing lightning-fast full fibre broadband to their citizens, both the UK and the US face common hurdles, yet differ significantly in their legislative approaches and the challenges encountered during planning and installation.

One of the most substantial obstacles in the UK is the perennial issue of wayleave agreements — a thorn in the side of any full fibre initiative. Landlords retain the authority to either accept or reject operators’ requests to install the required infrastructure within their buildings, meaning that work can often be blocked. This predicament mirrors the situation across the Atlantic, where tenants may find themselves in buildings with outdated, slow broadband, necessitating convincing the freeholder to embrace installation in order to gain a faster connection.

However, under the UK’s electronic communications code (the Code) — part of the Communications Act 2003 — operators can apply to the court to gain access to a property where previously they’ve not been able to come to an agreement with the freeholder. Interestingly, the US lacks an equivalent legislative framework like this. This void in legislation implies that, during the rollout process, new laws may be required to expedite the deployment of full fibre networks.

Currently, telecommunications in the US are mainly regulated by the Communications Act of 1934 as Amended (Communications Act). It governs the telecommunications and media sectors, with the non-executive Federal Communications Commission (FCC) serving as the primary regulatory authority. Historically, telecommunications facility siting has been predominantly regulated by state and local land use laws. The Act, while preserving local authority, imposes certain limitations and encourages network sharing among operators under regulated terms.

In contrast to the UK’s regulatory body, Ofcom, the US entrusts the FCC with primary oversight of the telecommunications industry, operating as an independent agency, led by up to five commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Importantly, no more than three commissioners can belong to the same political party, with one of the majority party’s commissioners appointed as the Chair.

One crucial aspect to watch will be how the FCC handles uncooperative landlords and freeholders, when compared to the UK’s approach. It will be interesting to see if it will adopt a more forceful stance and expedite the passage of legislation to ensure cooperation.

Additionally, how operators contend with legal expenses incurred while dealing with solicitors representing freeholders and landlords for consents and wayleaves, as well as demands for compensation for subpar work, remains a question. Could we witness similar considerations as seen in the UK?

In both the UK and the US, the overarching goal is to bridge the digital divide caused by varying access to broadband that has perpetuated economic disparities in underserved communities for decades. An estimated 30 million people in the US currently find themselves within this gap.

Given the vast expanse of the US, a multifaceted approach will be necessary for full fibre deployment. Traditional methods such as underground ducting and cable installation will be insufficient on their own. Wireless technologies will play a pivotal role in extending connectivity to both rural and urban areas. This diversified strategy is essential to ensure the commercial viability of providing full fibre access to every premise.

Ultimately, the core objective in both nations is to provide tenants with access to future-proof, high-speed full fibre broadband. This is especially vital in an era where the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to expand its reach. The question arises: why should the decision lie with freeholders and landlords when operators stand ready to deliver the essential infrastructure?

Therefore, while both the UK and the US grapple with similar challenges in their pursuit of full fibre broadband, their legislative frameworks and regulatory authorities differ significantly. As both countries strive to bring the benefits of high-speed internet to all, operators and unconnected communities wait with anticipation to see how they navigate the complexities of modern telecommunications infrastructure deployment.

Want to learn more about broadband regulation in the UK and the US? Join Trenches Law later this year for Connected America live in Dallas, Texas, and for Connected Britain live in London, UK.

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Ofcom issues further crackdown on spoof phonecalls

A new project has claimed that “residents and businesses” across the London UK boroughs of Wandsworth, Richmond upon Thames and Merton will benefit from the rollout of a new full fibre broadband and Ethernet network, which is being supported by Boldyn Networks, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL). The project, which […]

Network operator and UK ISP Connexin has today announced that they’ve secured a contract under the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout programme, which will see them extend their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to 34,320 hard to reach premises in parts of Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire (Lot 10). The provider, which has until now focused more […]

CityFibre has today secured another five of the UK government’s Project Gigabit broadband rollout contracts, totalling over £394m. The deals will spread their full fibre (FTTP) ISP network to over 202,000 hard to reach premises across parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes. Project Gigabit aims to extend […]